Last Breaths
by flower gettin' lady
Summary: Rose and the Doctor spend their last days together. Oneshot, Rose/Doctor.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

**A/N: I just watched the episode of Scrubs called "My Last Words" and cried through half of it AND IT'S REALLY SAD OKAY?! But it got me thinking about how the end might be for Rose and TenToo. Just… because. I've never really thought about them dying—I mean, I've thought about the growing old together part, just not the dying part.**

**Also, if you read Scribbles; I think this fic tops this one, angst-wise. Also, the Donna mentioned here is Rose and the Doctor's kid, named after Donna Noble. In case you didn't know that ;) **

He's mostly slept the last few days, so she just sits there. Sometimes he'll wake up, smiling at her because every time his eyes open she's there. She wonders if he's still around for that very reason. If he still wakes up because she still sits there.

He hasn't woken the entire day, but the peaceful rising and falling of his chest tells her that he's still with her. His face is lined with laughter and tears and joy and grief—he couldn't be more perfect to her.

"Rose?"

Her heart jumps a bit. She hadn't been expecting him to wake up, not for a while. The doctors had given him a new medication for the pain. He'd been so annoying, to her amusement, when he'd been told all his organs were slowly failing. _Humans._ Wasn't worried about the dying part at all.

"I like your eyes."

She laughs. "Ta, Doctor. Yours aren't that bad either."

"Smile's good too." He continues doggedly, apparently on a mission. "Love it when you laugh, and… beautiful. Pink-and-yellow."

"Gray and wrinkled." Rose contradicts, jokingly tugging at her lightened, wiry hair.

"Perfect." He retorts. "I just wanted… you to know."

She takes his hand, fingers running over the bones that stick out painfully. "I love you."

"Love you too, Rose Tyler." He says. A few labored breaths, and he adds, "Family out there?"

"Donna is still here, and so is Jack. Donna brought Sally with her earlier, but Mickey took her home for Donna. Poor little thing was getting tired."

Donna and Jack, their two kids. Their two _amazing_ kids. "Maybe I can see them later?"

"Later." She assures him. She tries not to say much, so that he isn't prompted to do the same. He's just so tired…

"I'm sleepy again." He almost sounds like a little boy. Rose can hear how scared he is, because each time he falls asleep could be the last time he saw her. And she hates the idea, but she doesn't want him to suffer. They both know that it's his time, and she doesn't want him to stay longer than necessary, just for her.

"Rest. I'll stay here, promise." She says, because he's tired and lived such a full life, and she just wants him to get some sleep.

"Forever?" he asks. His lids are already fluttering shut.

"'Course."

Some nurses top to chat, another comes by with a sandwich—she sits there for hours, holding the Doctor's hand. And very slowly, so very slowly, his breaths slow down until Rose is gripping a cool hand that reminds her of something alien, and the nurses excuse her. Tears glisten in her eyes, but they don't fall, because she's had time to grieve, and she knows that it's better this way.

Donna and Jack hug her, crying. Mickey shows up too, and she lets all three tell her they're sorry and they going to miss him _so _much (and she couldn't agree more). It's late, so Donna suggests they go to her place. Rose leaves them, saying she'll catch up since she has to arrange some things.

He's still there when she gets back, the room darkened in respect. She pulls the sheet back, and gently lies down next to him, arm touching his. She thinks about their first-second date—chips and a Weevil attack—, their topsy-turvy wedding, the rainy days in the flat when they'd ditch Torchwood and she'd let him fiddle with the TV to get alien shows, the day when she threw up all morning and nine months later when Donna and Jack Tyler were born. It blurs into school days and loud family vacations and so very much running.

Her eyes slide shut and she slips away, because she promised the Doctor forever and he don't go anywhere that she can't follow.

**A/N: Sorry, feeling a bit sad today. **

**I always imagined it would happen like this, and then when they were found the next morning none of the doctors can explain it, because how could she be healthy and just pass away like that? But of course Mickey, Donna, and Jack know, because she can't live without him, and if Rose had gone first the same thing would have happened with the Doctor. **


End file.
